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SOME NEWSPAPER ARTICLES 



REGARDING THE 



Educational Situation and other Civic 
Matters in the Southern States 

ALABAMA IN PARTICULAR 



REPRINTED FROM THE BIRMINGHAM AGE-HERALD 



..i\.„;,- Y-i' 



SOME NEWSPAPER ARTICLES 



REGARDING THE 



Educational Situation and other Civic 
Matters in the Southern States 

ALABAMA IN PARTICULAR 



REPRINTED FROM THE BIRMINGHAM AGE-HERALD 



.* 



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PREFACE 



The articles and editorial expressions reprinted herezvith, from The 
Birmingham Age-Herald, are now published in pamphlet form, at the 
request of citizens who are interested in a campaign for improvement of the 
educational situation and civic progress. With full contidence in the 
patriotism and civic pride of the people of Alabama, it is safe to assume 
that a fair statement of the actual facts, and an unbiased discussion of the 
issues, zvill stimulate a public agitation that will result in a zuise and happy 
solution of a grave problem. 



INDICTMENT OF SOUTH'S EDUCATION 
GROWS APPALLING 



Wm. H. Skaggs, Former Talladega Man, Presents 

Some Gruesome Facts 



SEES DARK AHEAD FOR OUR WHITE CHILDREN 



Says Educational Conditions Among Southern White People 
Are the Most Deplorable in the Civilized World 



William H. Skaggs, formerly a prominent citizen of Alabama, but now 
of Chicago, has written to The Age-Herald an appalling indictment of 
the South's educational conditions. That it may be known that there is 
no sectional prejudice in what Mr. Skaggs writes, it should be stated that 
he was born and reared in Talladega and was three times mayor of that 
city before taking up his residence in Chicago. He writes as follows : 
To the Editor of The Age-Herald: 

From an editorial in The Age-Herald of several weeks ago, I take 
the following: "About one-third of the children of school age in this 
state go to school, and two-thirds do not. * * * This puts Alabama on 
the Russian basis." An editorial in a subsequent issue says : "It is safe 
to say that one-half of the 700,000 children of today are not sent to school 
and are, therefore, growing up without a public school education. It is 
also safe to say that the school accommodations of this state are not ample 
enough to care for one-half of the state's children." 

The antithesis of your views is expressed in the leading editorial of 
The Birmingham News of the i6th inst. The News takes the following 
from The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle : 

"The South has all the advantages of climate, soil, nearness to markets 
and wide range of products. Its backwardness in educational facilities, 
coupled with its race antipathies, its inherited prejudices and its political 
loyalty to a past era, more than offset its natural advantages." 

Commenting on the statement of the Rochester paper, The News says : 

"The first seventeen words of this extract are true. The rejnainder 
is poppycock, beyig a mere exudation of the general ignorance. * * * 
The same may be said of the references to the educational facilities of 
Alabama. The people of this state are not only providing for the educa- 
tion of their children and the children of those far-sighted individuals who 
come here from other quarters, but they stand ready to join in any move- 
ment that may result in enlightening the dear, deluded citizens of the 
North." 



6 EDUCATIONAL SITUATION 

Whether The News is grossly ignorant or speaks facetiously, it is 
difficult to determine. The charitable view is that the editorial in The 
News was conceived under abnormal conditions and should be treated as 
a peculiar, but none the less dangerous, style of veiled humor. The 
Rochester paper, however, has one advantage of The News. Its editorial 
contains "seventeen words that are true," while the article in The News, 
as I shall show, does not contain one word that is true. In short, the 
editorials in late issues of The Age-Herald, from which I have quoted, tell, 
in a few plain words, the story of the distressing lack of educational 
facilities in this state. 

I shall submit, in detail, actual facts gathered from the highest 
authorities. My only purpose is to contribute to an agitation for better 
educational facilities in the South. I am not a citizen of this state, but I 
was born and brought up in Alabama, and resided here until a few 
years ago. During many years I have given a great deal of thought and 
attention to economic, social and civic conditions in the South and I 
ought to know a few facts touching these questions. My continuing 
interest in the people and institutions of my native state is sufficient excuse, 
if any be needed, for taking part in this discussion. 

A very interesting paper was read before the "Twelfth Conference for 
Education in the South" by Professor Coon of North Carolina. Speaking 
of the eleven Southern states. Professor Coon said : 

"The latest reports of the several departments of education indicate 
that these eleven states are now spending about $32,068,851 for elementary 
and secondary education. This sum represents every item of expense, and 
is just slightly more than Pennsylvania spends annually for the same 
purpose. This sum is $21,000,000 less than New York state spent for 
public education in 1907, and not quite twice as much as Massachusetts 
spent in 1906. The wealth of these eleven Southern States is approximately 
$12,000,000,000, while New York State has property worth $15,000,000,- 
000, Massachusetts, $5,000,000,000, and Pennsylvania, $11,500,000,000." 
With aggregate taxable values greater than the State of Pennsylvania, the 
eleven Southern States spend annually for educational purposes "just 
slightly more than Pennsylvania spends annually for the same purpose." 
The total value of New York property is $15,000,000,000, only $3,000,- 
000,000 more than the aggregate of the eleven Southern States, but New 
York spent in 1907 $21,000,000 more than the eleven Southern States spent 
for educational purposes. 

A few years ago the Superintendents of Education of all the Southern 
States joined in a statement concerning educational matters in the South. 
'I'hat statement was in the nature of an appeal to the Southern people, 
and was published in the leading Southern papers. From that paper I 
take the following: "* 

"Comparative statistics of undoubted authority show that of all sec- 
tions of our country the public schools of tlie South have the poorest 
houses and e(iuipnicnt, the most poorly paid teachers, the shortest school 
terms, and the most inadequate supervision. The average salary of teachers 
for the country at large is $49 for men and $40 for women, while the 



IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 7 

average salary for teachers in the Southern States is $35.63 for men and 
$30.47 for women. The average length of the public school term for the 
country at large is 145 clays. The average length of the public school 
term for the North Atlantic States is 177.3 days, the average length of the 
public school term for the Southern States, including Tennessee, Missis- 
sippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia, Texas, 
Virginia and Florida is 99 days. 

"For every woman and child of its population the country at large is 
spending $2.99 for the education of its children. The South is spending 
barely 98 cents. The country at large is spending $20.29 for every pupil 
enrolled in its public schools. The Southern States are spending only 
$6.95. The country at large is spending for every child of school age in 
the United States an average of $10.57, the Southern States are spending 
for every child of school age within their borders $4.05. * * * Twenty- 
four per cent of the white population of the United States dwell in the 
Southern States/ that composed the Confederacy, while 64 per cent of all 
white illiterates over 10 years of age are found in these states." 

According to the latest report of the United States Commissioner of 
Education, the average number of days attended by each pupil enrolled 
in 1907-8, in five Southern States is as follows : "Arkansas, 59.7 ; North 
Carolina, 60.9; Mississippi, 64.5; Alabama, 73.C, and South Carolina, 69. 
Arkansas is the lowest and the others follow in ascending order. Ex- 
pended per capita of total population: Mississippi, 98 cents; South Caro- 
lina, $1.07; Alabama, $1.26; North Carolina, $1.32, and Arkansas, $1.71;" 

As shown by the report of the State Superintendent of Education, the 
total enrollment in Alabama in 1905 was 542,717, in 1909 the total enroll- 
ment was 405,226, a decrease in four years of 137,491. 

Four years ago the State Superintendent of Education in Alabama 
was a very active worker in the cause of education, and he used plai;i 
language. He said: "The average school house in the rural sections of/ 
Alabama is a disgrace to the district, the county and state. The farmers' 
horses, the farmers' cattle are frequently better housed than the farmers' 
children while attending school. Deserted Negro cabins, abandoned old 
churches are considered sufficiently good. No attention whatever is given 
to the importance of heat, light, comfort and ventilation." 

In the latest biennial report of the Superintendent of Education of 
Alabama a letter from a County Superintendent is published, from which 
I take the following: 

"Under the present arrangements, many pupils have to go for weeks 
without books after the opening of schools because, under the present 
form of contract with the depository, some of the county agencies will 
not keep a supply of books on hand sufficient to supply the demand," 

Another County Superintendent, writing to the State Superintendent, 
says: "The curse of ignorance and illiteracy is so marked in some sec- 
tions that the teacher is handicapped and often forced to abandon his 
school as the result of being made a scape valve for the bickerings and 
quarrels of the community." 

While traveling in Alabama, a few months ago, a farmer whom I 



8 EDUCATIONAL SITUATION 

know very well told me that he had made three trips to the county seat 
for the purpose of buying school books for his grandchildren. He lives 
eighteen miles from the county scat and the county seat was the nearest 
point where books could be bought. He was never able to get the books. 
This man is 73 years old and is faithfully — and I may say, heroically — 
trying to educate his grandchildren. Under existing conditions in this 
state, this old man, in extreme poverty, is displaying a moral courage, 
a pride of family and love of country, hardly less commendable than the 
physical courage he showed for three and a half years in the service of 
the Confederate States. 

The State Superintendent of South Carolina in the latest biennial 
report makes this astounding statement: 

"Less than 2 per cent of our boys and girls ever get to college. Barely 
4 per cent are enrolled in the high schools, while more than 100,000 in 
attendance on our rural schools go back to their homes without any 
knowledge of the great, yet simple, laws controlling the materials and 
surrounding of their everyday Hfe." 

Another interesting but distressing fact brought out in the reports 
from South Carolina is that the Negroes have 718 private school houses 
and the whites only 254. And in this connection it may be interesting to 
note that in Alabama the estimated value of private school property is 
$756,565, of which the whites have $386,000 and the Negroes $370,565. 
The Negroes have 49 per cent of the whole, more than their proportion, 
on basis of population, and many times their proportion on basis of 
wealth and opportunities. And here is an official statement taken from the 
educational reports of South Carolina and republished in The Atlanta 
Constitution two years ago: 

"The report of the Superintendent of Schools of South Carolina 
shows that the number of Negroes taking the various studies in the 
common schools of that state overwhelmingly exceeds the number of 
white children engaged in similar branches. Here are the official records, 
showing school attendance in various grades : 

Whites. Colored. 

First reader 25,424 43.773 

Second reader 20,715 25,468 

Third reader 19,719 29,069 

Fourth reader I9,IS4 24,806 

Fifth reader 14,770 16,198 

Spelling 93,999 105,698 

Geography 48,426 52,71 1 

"A highly important feature of these statistics is that, while they 
show little comparative disparity in the number of whites and blacks taking 
higher studies, in other words, those who entered school four, five and 
six years ago, the contrast in the attendance of whites and blacks in the 
primary studies, or the pupils who have been enrolled but recently, 
is astounding. This fact demonstrates clearly the growing incentive that 
disfranchisement furnishes the Negro to enter school." 



IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 9 

This deplorable state of affairs should arouse the interest of every 
good citizen. It must be humiliating to every respectable white man who 
has any pride of race or state. It is alarming from any viewpoint. It 
is the result of Vardamanism in Mississippi, Tillmanism in South Caro- 
lina and, in Alabama — but as I am a native of this state I should be 
impersonal and speak gentl}' — let me say, however, that the turbulent 
times and a dilettante policy have not brought industrial, social or civic 
advancement. Ned Brace says : "We need more common sense and 
genuine patriotism and less politics." I don't know that Ned Brace was 
thinking of Alabama when he used this langauge, but conditions are as 
I have stated and this state seems to be very much in need of something 
that will add to civic virtue and social and economic advancement. 
Neither sectional nor partisan prejudice will cure the ailment, nor has 
the agitation of racial animosities contributed to the betterment of con- 
ditions. 

With Mississippi, the home of the President of the Confederate 
States^ leading in illiteracy, lawlessness and civic degeneracy; with South 
Carolina, the home of the ablest and most prominent defender of "the 
peculiar institutions of the South," and Alabama, the creidle of the Con- 
federacy, we come next to the fourth state in ascending order from the 
lowest. The fourth state is Georgia, the great "Empire State of the 
South," glorious in American history, the home of Stephens, Toombs, 
Gordon and Hill, f If you would know the record of crime, lawlessness 
and civic degeneracy in that state you need not go to the partisan press 
of the North. The Atlanta Constitution, in its editorial columns and in 
contributed articles from brave and patriotic citizens, has told the story 
and, in the language of that fearless paper, "all Georgia stands aghast." 
But the purpose of this article is to deal especially with educational mat- 
ters. Touching these conditions in Georgia, the State School Commis- 
sioner, in his late annual report, says : 

"As to illiteracy in Georgia, our census demonstrates that 11.5 per 
cent of children over 10 years of age cannot read, which means that 
there are still 84,380 illiterates in the state, of whom about 20,000 are 
white children and for the neglect of whom there is no adequate excuse. 
This is simply appalling when we consider that we have been working on 
the problem of public education for white children 126 years and have 
maintained our common school system in its present form for more than 
forty years. * * * Since the last previous census in 1903 the total 
illiteracy has been reduced only 1.6 per cent. At that rate we shall wait 
fifty years yet and expend more than $100,000,000 before we shall banish 
illiteracy entirely and be rid of its curse. * * * Jn thjg illiterate resi- 
dium is where society most easily and most often breaks down and gov- 
ernment fails. It will cost far more in money and in tears to punish the 
steady flow of criminals that issue from it than to educate the whole mass." 

The gloomy view of the situation in Georgia, as expressed by the 
Commissioner of Education in the language I have quoted, is fully justi- 
fied when we examine the statistical tables. The highest enrollment in 
Georgia was in 1906, when it reached a total of 516,268; in 1907 it was 



10 EDUCATIONAL SITUATION 

509,182, a decrease of 7,086, and in 1908 the total enrollment was 508,403, 
a decrease of 779 as compared with the previous year, and a decrease of 
7,865 from the total enrollment of igo6. 

From the documents in my possession and frt)m the notes made 
during a personal investigation; I could furnish evidence of ignorance, 
poverty and physical and civic degeneracy that would make every good 
man and woman in this state "stand aghast." I have gone into the slums 
of the great cities, the remote rural sections of the Northwest and 
the South; my work has necessitated an examination of the educational 
reports and penal statistics of every state in the Union, our insular pos- 
sessions and the federal reports. And I have made some investigation of 
reports on educational and economic matters and statistics on criminology 
of other countries, and the facts thus gathered show that the condition 
of the Southern white people is the most deplorable in the civilized world. 
The Negroes are making greater progress than the whites. In many 
rural sections the Negroes are accumulating property faster than the 
whites. In education they are leading the whites and the way we are 
now going, within ten years the illiteracy will be greater among the whites 
than the Negroes. Porto Rico is making greater progress than the South; 
so is Hawaii, except the natives of that island. In the great Northwest 
there are thousands and tens of thousands of men and women who came 
here as steerage passengers, with all their worldly possessions in packs 
on their backs, but today they have better homes, more of the comforts 
and pleasures of life, more reserve in the savings bank, and their children 
are better educated and have promise of more voice in the affairs of 
government than the descendants of the men who fought at King's 
Mountain and Cowpens. 

WILLIAM H. SKAGGS. 

Birmingham, July 18, 1910. Hotel Hillman. 

[Editorial: Birmingham Age-Herald, July 19, 1910.] 

ILLITERACY IN ALABAMA 

William H. Skaggs' letter, published in yesterday's Age-Herald, should 
be read and re-read in every part of the state. It is not the entire naked 
truth, but it is as near it as the official figures go. There is not a state- 
ment in it that can be successfully questioned. 

It is in fact an indictment of a policy that pays hundreds of thousands 
of dollars to institutions that but 6,000 students attend, while the public 
schools that 700,000 should attend are skimped to less than $1.50 a head! 

There is one thing the next Legislature should investigate with a 
thoroughness that leaves nothing unturned or untouched, and that is 
the decrease in enrollment in the public schools of this state. We have 
in a round number 700,000 children of school age. In 1905 the number 
enrolled in the public schools was 542,717; in 1909 the enrollment had 
fallen to 405,226. It fell 25 per cent in four years. At that ri'te zero would 
be reached in twelve years' time. 

When less than 60 per cent of the children of school age in this 



IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 11 

state go to school Tz days in the year we need not look further for an 
explanation of the distressing figures of illiteracy that the census bureau 
will soon lay before the world. The figures we have, however, tell the 
story and Mr. Skaggs amplifies and emphasizes them without wandering 
from the naked truth. 



SKAGGS PRESENTS FIGURES TO SHOW 
STATE BACKWARD 



Deplorable Educational Situation as Compared With 

Other States 



STATE DEPARTMENT HAS PRQVED FIASCO 



Believes That the People of His Native Alabama Should 
Know the Truth So That They Can Work on the Solution 



W. H. Skaggs, who was born and reared in Talladega, and now lives 
in Chicago, has written another interesting article to The Age-Herald on 
Alabama's school system. Mr. Skaggs believes the people of his native 
state should know the truth and should be brought face to face with 
conditions as compared with other American states and foreign countries. 

Every line of his article is of interest to the people of Alabama. He 
writes : 

To the Editor of The Age-Herald : 

When I was in Birmingham, a few weeks ago, my attention was 
called to a discussion of educational affairs in Alabama. At that time I 
happened to have with me documents which I had previously prepared 
relating to educational questions in the Southern States, and a friend in 
Birmingham requested me to furnish for publication a summary of the 
facts in my possession. The article published in The Age-Herald was 
written under the impulse of the moment, but it contained little more 
than a plain statement of actual facts about which the people of Alabama 
ought to be informed. Anybody who is interested and wishes to know 
the truth could go to the official records and verify the statements I 
have submitted. I am at a loss, therefore, to understand why my article 
should have stirred up such a hornet's nest. It did not occur to me that 
I would be called upon to pursue this matter further, but many letters 
have come to me from Alabama requesting further information on the 
subject and urging me to co-operate with The Age-Herald in its fight for 
an improvement in educational conditions in Alabama. I have decided 



12 



EDUCATIONAL SITUATION 



to go a little deeper into the matter and present a more comprehensive 
view of the question. 

In a discussion of public questions in Alabama reference to the life 
and work of Thomas Jefferson will hardly be considered out of place. 
In the early history of this country, no publicist or statesman took a more 
liberal and comprehensive view of education and none worked more earn- 
estly and effectively in this cause than Mr. Jefferson. As the author of 
the Declaration of Independence and the Statute for Religious Freedom, 
he laid the foundation for republican institutions, but it was little less to 
the credit of his patriotism and statesmanship that he was also the "Father 
of the University of Virginia." In his arduous work for the cause of 
education, Mr. Jefferson, with great foresight, sought to secure, through 
the means of education, the liberties of the people and the perpetuation 
of those rights which democratic institutions are supposed to guarantee. 

Among the cherished apothegms of Mr. Jefferson we find the follow- 
ing: "Know the truth and the truth shall make you free." And it is said 
that the putative father of democracy caused this sentiment to be posted 
where it could be seeq by the students of the great university which he 
founded. This sentiment will be my guide in further discussion of the 
question of education in Alabama. 

COMPARED WITH FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 

By comparison with Russia, Roumania, Portugal, Venezuela and 
other backward countries of Europe and America, Alabama is doing 
very well in the work of education ; but by comparison with. 98 per cent 
of the states of this country it is doing very poorly. For the purpose of 
this paper I shall take for comparison two states of the Northwest, Min- 
nesota and Nebraska, neither of which is as rich in natural resources as 
Alabama. These states were uninhabited by white people when Ala- 
bama was thirty years old as a state and far advanced in the political 
and industrial history of this country. The present population of Minne- 
sota is about the same as Alabama, and Nebraska has a total population 
less than one-half the total population of Alabama and 200,000 less than 
the native white population of Alabama. Minnesota and Nebraska are not 
the most advanced states of the Northwest, but they are average states, 
which may be used for comparison with Alabama. The following tables 
will illustrate the points of comparison : 

POPULATION. 

I8S0 1890 1900 1908 

Alabama 1,262,505 1,513,017 1,828,697 2,080,936 

Minnesota 780,773 1,301,826 i,7Si,394 2,117,022 

Nebraska 452,404 1,058,910 1,068,539 1,069,214 

From the foregoing figures it will be seen that in 1880 the popula- 
tion of Minnesota was a little less than two-thirds the population of Ala- 
bama. Minnesota has steadily gained on Alabama, yet. as shown by the 
latest available statistics, the population of the two states at this time is 
practically the same. In 1880, the population of Nebraska was only a 



IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 13 

little in excess of one-third the population of Alabama. In the decade 

from 1880 to i8go Nebraska gained rapidly, but in the next period, 1890 

to 1900, it remained almost stationary, and is practically at a standstill 

today, having gained only 10,000 in population during the eighteen years 

last past. The present population of Nebraska is about one-half the 

total, and less than the white population, of Alabama. What Nebraska 

has gained in wealth and what it has done for the cause of education 

furnish interesting statistics for comparison with Alabama. The school 

enumeration in these states is shown below : 

1900 1908 

Alabama 640,500 692,952 

Minnesota 545>950 622,404 

Nebraska 326,100 321,833 

ENROLLMENT. 

1880 1890 1900 1908 

Alabama 1/9490 301,615 3/6,423 '386,478 

Minnesota 180,248 280,960 339,207 430,748 

Nebraska 92,549 240,300 288,227 280,581 

There being no apparent increase in the population of Nebraska from 
1900 to 1908, there could be no increase in school enumeration or enroll- 
ment, consequently there was a small decrease. But these tables, reduced 
to a percentage basis, better show the relative progress or decline of the 
several states. The comparative percentage of total population enrolled 

is as under : 

1880 1890 1900 1908 

Alabama 14.22 19.93 20.59 i8-57 

Minnesota 23.09 21.58 22.79 20.3S 

Nebraska , 20.46 22.69 27.03 26.24 

Where there has been no increase, or only a small increase, in popula- 
tion, there could be no increase in the percentage of enrollment based 
on total population unless, during the period for which comparison is 
made, there has been extraordinary provision for the education of a 
school population for which there had not been adequate provision prior 
to such period of comparison. Such has not been the case in Minnesota 
or Nebraska, as each of these states since 1880 has made ample provision 
for the education of its school population. No such ample provision has 
been made in Alabama, and the percentage of enrollment, based on total 
population, should have been much higher in Alabama in 1908 than in 
1900 or 1890. The percentage of school population enrolled is shown in 

the following table : 

1880 1890 1900 1908 

Alabama 42.60 55,83 61.67 55.77 

Minnesota • 75.87 74-59 77-59 69.21 

Nebraska 68.48 75.36 89.50 87.18 

These figures show that the percentage of school population enrolled 
in Alabama was less in 1908 than in 1900 or 1890, but there was also a 



U EDUCATIONAL SITUATION 

decrease in Minnesota in 1908, as compared with the three decades imme- 
diately preceding. The trouble in Alabama, in comparison with the West- 
ern States, is that the percentage of enrollment never has reached a high 
point. 

TROUBLE NOT WITH PEOPLE. 

But these comparative figures, regarding school population and en- 
rollment, show one important fact which appears to be the crux of the 
educational question in Alabama. The trouble in Alabama is not with the 
people. They are anxious to educate! their children and the children 
are willing and ready to go to school. The figures I have given show this 
to be true. The per cent of the total population enrolled in the United 
States is 19.64, and in Alabama it is 18.57, a little less than the average 
of the whole country. It has been above the average. The per cent of 
the school population enrolled in the United States is 69.32, and in Ala- 
bama it is 55.77. While the per cent of enrollment is below the average 
in Alabama, it is not a bad showing when we consider the lack of sufficient 
appropriations for educational purposes, the short school term and the 
miserable houses used for school purposes. Added to these stumbling 
blocks, we have the race question, the bogey of small politicians. These 
things considered, the official statistics sl^ow that the white people of 
Alabama are as solicitous about the education of their children as the 
people of any other state ; and the negroes, under the most discouraging 
conditions, show greater concern about the education of their children than 
many of the white races of Europe and Central America. Moreover, in 
these comparisons of enrollment, we should not forget that, in Alabama 
the education of the child is optional with the parent, while in many of 
the northern and western states, education is compulsory. It is compulsory 
in Minnesota and Nebraska. 

I said that the people of Alabama are as solicitous about the education 
of their children as the people of any other state. I should have said that 
they are more concerned than the people of many other states. They have 
made, and they are still readv to make, greater sacrifices to accomplish this 
end than the citizens of many other states have made ; simply because they 
have done, or tried to do, voluntarily, what others have done under com- 
pulsion. Time and again have I heard it stated, more frequently in the 
South than in the North, that the poor whites of the South are thriftless 
and without family or state pride sufficient to furnish an incentive for the 
education of their children. It is not true. The poor people of the South 
are not of low strain ; they are brave, gentle, loyal and patriotic, and have 
proven their worth. They are a homogeneous people and come from good 
stock. Given the opportunity, they never fail to show themselves the equals 
of any people and the superiors of many. And later on in this article, 
or in a subsequent paper, I shall make further conunent on this important 
phase of the discussion. It is not the lack of state or family pride, neither 
indiflference nor indolence on the part of the people, that gives Alabama 
such an unsavory record in educational progress. The trouble has been, 
and is, the narrow, niggardly and dilatory policy of the political admin- 



IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 15 

istration and the absence of efficiency and virility in the educational de- 
partment. It is the lack of civic pride and civic virtue in the leaders, 
and not the stupidity of the masses. The administration of the department 
of education in Alabama has been a fiasco, and it has been little better in 
other Southern States, although some of the Southern States have the 
faithful and capable service of distinguished educators who have not been 
able to bring the political leaders of their states up to a high standard. As 
a distinguished educator of this country has said, facetiously, "The whole 
educational system of the South is a roaring farce." The additional statis- 
tics which I shall submit will show this to be true. 

As a further guide to a correct analysis of this question, we should 
consider the following table, showing the average attendance. 

1880 1890 1900 1908 

Alabama 1 17,978 182,467 297,805 249,030 

Minnesota • 78,400 127,025 243,224 323,061 

Nebraska 60,156 146,130 181,874 191,152 

These comparative statistics of average attendance are interesting be- 
cause they point to the sequel of this distressing story. They show that, 
notwithstanding a gain of little over 10,000 in enrollment, from 1900 to 
1908, Alabama, during the same period, lost 48,775 in average attendance. 
And during the same period Minnesota gained 31,000 in enrollment and 
79,837 in average attendance. Nebraska during the same period lost 8,000 
in enrollment but gained over 9,000 in average attendance. With bad 
management, inadequate and incommodious schoolhouses and irregular and 
short school terms, Alabama was unable to retain the average attendance. 
The gain in the average attendance in Minnesota shows that that state has 
been taking care of its school population, and the increase in attendance 
is in proper proportion to the increase of enrollment. And while Nebraska 
loses 7,600 in enrollment it gains 9,300 in average attendance, evidencing 
the continuity and regularity of school work. In Alabama it is "drop in 
and drop out, all the time shifting about," and the absence of continuity 
and regularity is evidenced by the figures which show, as I have stated, an 
increase of 10,000 in enrollment and a decrease of 48,775 in attendance. 

As we progress in this investigation we shall see by the comparative 
statistics the many serious disadvantages under which the children of 
Alabama struggle for an education. Here is a table that tells another dis- 
tressing story. It shows the average number of days attended by each 
pupil : 

1900 1908 

Alabama 67.4 73.0 

Minnesota 98.1 108.8 

Nebraska 105.5 1 18.3 

But if these figures are distressing, what shall we say of the "cold 
facts" revealed in the statistics given below, showing the average number 
of days the schools were kept during the year? 



l<5 EDUCATIONAL SITUATION 

1880 1890 1900 1908 

Alabama 81.3 73-5 78.3 ii3-3 

Minnesota 94 128.0 169.0 1450 

Nebraska • 82 140.0 135.0 173.0 

In the state of Washington the schools, in 1908, were kept 169 days; 
in California, 181; in Montana, 170 ; in Illinois, 171; Michigan, i6g; Wis- 
consin, 168; Iowa, 170. In the Philippine Islands the public schools are 
kept 200 days during the year. It is a sad commentary on the people of 
Alabama that their children have 87 days less schooling every year than 
the children of the Philippine Islands. In New Zealand the children have 
. 157 days, and in Porto Rico they have 165 days, 52 more than the children 
of Alabama. 

Is it a "square deal" to ask the children of Alabama, who have only 
1 13.3 days schooling every year, to equal in intelligence and enterprise the 
children of Minnesota, who get 145 days, the children of Nebraska who 
get 173 days, with more books, and better books, more desks and better 
desks, more houses and better houses, to say nothing of the children of the 
more progressive states where they have greater opportunities than are 
provided in the last-mentioned states? The plain facts are too humiliating 
for comment by way of comparison with the opportunities in our insular 
possessions. But speaking of Porto Rico, an incident of recent occurrence 
is deserving attention at this point. 

AUTHORITY TRUSTED BY SOUTH. 

There is one authority outside the South that is pretty generally 
accepted in the Southern states. It matters not whether it be the ques- 
tion of whiskey or no whiskey in a village of 500 people, or a national 
issue of first importance, there is little question in the South touching the 
accuracy of the statements, or the v wisdom of the judgment, of the Hon. 
William Jennings Bryan. Returning from his late tour of the Southern 
American states and the West Indies, Mr. Bryan hastened to Washington, 
and, by previous appointment, appeared before the House committee of 
insular affairs. He went in behalf of the Porto Ricans to "voice his sup- 
port of two bills, one of which provides an appropriation of $375,000 for 
the eradication of the hookworm in the islands, and the other to establish 
a pan-American college there." Mr. Bryan then contributed a eulogy to 
the development of Porto Rico under American occupation. "When we 
went there," he said, "there were only 20,000 children in school, now there 
are 100,000. I know of no place where there has been such an increase 
unless it is in the Philippine Islands. And yet," added Mr. Bryan, "only 
one-half of the Porto Rican children are in school. Both schools and roads 
are heavy burdens to Porto Rico, although we have built them 600 or 
700 miles of roads." 

It is a pity that Mr. Bryan did not go before the Committee on Educa- 
tion and tell a little about the lack of educational opportunities in tiie 
states where he has been getting his big majorities. Not a state in the 
South that gave him a majority of its electoral votes in the late election 



IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 17 

has made the progress in educational development that Porto Rico has 
made, and in those sections of the South where he has gotten his big 
majorities not half the children have been in school since their country 
was occupied by the "peerless leader" and their fathers enslaved by its 
lieutenants. Did anybody ever hear of Mr. Bryan pleading for good 
schools and good roads in the country that has been so loyal to him ? 
No people under God's sun have served so faithfully and so long, and none 
has labored so diligently as the people of the South; and neither in grati- 
tude, nor material support has any people received as little in return. Dur- 
ing the lo years last past, according to the official reports, federal and state, 
the percent of school attendance in Alabama has decreased 20 percent, while 
during the same period it has, according to official statistics, verified by Mr. 
Bryan, increased 500 per cent in Porto Rico. Is there a man or woman in 
Alabama who is proud of this showing? 

A friend in Alabama whose opinions I greatly respect, because they 
are always conscientious and generally correct, has protested against the 
conclusions I expressed in a former article. The ground of his objection 
is that the Southern people have a long established prejudice against public 
schools, consequently, my conclusions being based on the statistics of the 
public schools, should not be treated as a fair index of the educational 
opportunities of the state. I know that such prejudice did exist. Many 
years ago, when I undertook to establish a public school in one of the 
most cultured communities in the state I found it a most difficult under- 
taking. A number of influential citizens held a public meeting and pro- 
tested against the undertaking. But the school was built and public 
schools are not unpopular in that community today. 

I think the prejudice has passed away, but if it still exist it is imma- 
terial in this discussion, simply because there are very few private schools 
for the elementary branches in Alabama, or if there be any they are not 
patronized. I have gone pretty carefully into this phase of the question and 
I find that my friend is in error. The number of pupils in the private 
schools of Alabama is negligibly small, less than 6 per cent. In 1900, the 
number of pupils enrolled in the private schools of Alabama was 26,722 and 
only 11,164 in 1909, of which about one-half were negroes. And, by com- 
parison, it may be interesting to note that Minnesota had 20,073 and Neb- 
raska 9,000 in private schools in 1908. And in the secondary schools of the 
common school system the percentage of school population in attendance 
is steadily increasing while it is rapidly decreasing in the private high 
schools. 

FINANCIAL FEATURES. 

The statistics on the financial features of the situation present the 
most alarming and humiliating phase of the question, as shown by the 
following comparative tables, giving the total amount expended for schools : 

1880 1890 1900 1908 

Alabama $ 500.000 $ 890,000 $ 923,464 $2,620,335 

Minnesota 1,328,429 4,187,310 5.630,013 11,495,616 

Nebraska 1,108,619 2,Z7(>,2?,2 4,403,222 6,228,554 



18 EDUCATIONAL SITUATION 

With practically the same population as Alabama, Minnesota is spend- 
ing more than four times the amount Alabama is spending for educational 
purposes. Nebraska, with less than one-half the population of Alabama, 
is spending more than twice as much as Alabama. The total population 
of Nebraska is not equal to the total white population of Alabama yet 
Nebraska is spending three times the amount for the education of its mixed 
population that Alabama is spending for its native white population. 

Expended per capita of total population : 

1880 1890 1900 1908 

Alabama $.40 $.59 $.59 $1.26 

Minnesota 1.70 3.22 3.21 5.43 

Nebraska 2.45 3.19 4.13 5.83 

Expended per capita of average attendance : 

1900 1908 

Alabama $ 4.30 $10.52 

Minnesota 16.50 35-58 

Nebraska 14.00 32.58 

Minnesota and Nebraska have made steady progress in educational 
work. The shifting of population has shown intermittent decrease in en- 
rollment but there has been no decrease in attendance, and in liberal 
appropriations of money for educational purposes the growth has been con- 
tinuous and stable. But, as I have stated, Minnesota and Nebraska are not 
the leading states of the West in educational advancement. Some of 
the western states are spending more than twice the amount these states 
are .spending. The state of Washington is $10 per capita of population and 
$45.47 per capita of average attendance; Nevada, $11.81 on population and 
$72.34 on average attendance; California, $8.47 and $54.93; Idaho, $7.59 
per capita of population and $31.54 on per capita of average attendance. 
In per capita expenditure Alabama is the lowest in the United States, 
except Mississippi, which is spending 98 cents and South Carolina, $1.07. 
New Zealand is providing educational facilities for the children of that 
country at an expense of $4.07 per capita of population. 

It has been stated time and again in Congress, in the press and 
periodicals and at educational conventions, that the Southern States have 
been very liberal in expenditures for educational purposes and that, in this 
work, they have taxed themselves beyond their means. I have just read 
a paper from a distinguished citizen of the South in which it is stated 
that the Southern people have done wonderful things, more than any other 
people, for the cause of education. No doubt the writer was sincere in his 
statement but he had not investigated the question. He had simply 
taken for granted what he had heard from some other misinformed writer 
or speaker and accepted it as the truth. The following statistics, from the 
latest federal reports, will show the error of this popular fallacy. 

True value of real and personal property : 

1880 1890 1900 1904 

Alabama $428,000,000 $ 622,773,504 $ 774,682,478 $ 965,014,261 

Minnesota 792,000,000 1,691,851,927 2,513,620,826 3,343,722,076 

Nebraska 385,000,000 1,275,685,514 1,626,203,203 2,009,563,633 



IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 19 

Expended for public schools on each $ioo of true valuation of all real 
j.nd personal property: 

1880 iSgo 1900 1904 

Alabama 11.7c 14.3c ii.8c 13.0c 

Minnesota i6.8c 24.7c 22.4c 24.1c 

Nebraska 28.8c 26.SC 27.1c 23.8c 

The state of Washington is spending 38.6 cents on each $100 of true 
valuation of all real and personal property ; Oregon is spending 21.2 and 
Colorado is spending 33 cents. The estimated value of all real and per- 
sonal property in West Virginia is $125,000,000 less than Alabama, but 
West Virginia is spending 30.1, more than double the expenditure of 
Alabama, on basis of true valuation of all property. From; these statistics, 
it seems that the state of Alabama, by comparison, is not taxing the people 
very heavily for educational purposes. When we consider the greater 
needs in Alabama, it is a showing that does little credit to those who 
dictate public policy in that state. 

I have seen a great deal in the papers and from the State Superin- 
tendent of Education about the extraordinary expenditures in Alabama 
during the last year or two for new buildings. With great pride it has 
been stated that the state has been spending an average of $1,000 a day, 
excluding Sundays, or a total of $350,000 per annum for new schoolhouses 
and repairs on old. That may be better than has been done before ; I 
suppose it is, but the state of Minnesota built during the year igo8, 245 
schoolhouses, valued at $1,547,863. While Alabama was spending $1,000 
a day for schoolhouses Minnesota was spending $4,500 for the same 
purpose. Here is a "sum" for an Alabama school boy: H Alabama pro- 
vides for 113 days schooling and spends $r,ooo a day for schoolhouses, 
while Minnesota provides for 145 days schooling, with free text books, 
and spends $4,500 a day for schoolhouses, how long will it take the 
.Alabama boy to catch up with the Minnesota boy? 

So far as I can learn from the Alabama reports, thei-e is no provision 
for free text books in that state, but I shall not burden this article with 
statistics on this phase of the question. Any experienced educator knows 
that this is a vital question in elementary education, particularly among 
a people so poor and backward as the people of Alabama. But the lack 
of public libraries is another serious hindrance to education in Alabama. 
In his latest report the State Superintendent of Education states that there 
are 349 libraries in the public schools of Alabama, valued at $50,130. 
Minnesota has 5,847 libraries, valued at $617,868. But the lack of adequate 
and commodious housing for the schools in Alabama is well illustrated 
in the following comparative statistics : 

Estimated value of all public school property — 

1890 1908 

Alabama $ 2,200,000 $ 4,569,027 

Minnesota 19,438,862 28,297,420 

Nebraska 10,281,558 13,951,699 

The value of schriolhouses in Alabama is hardly one-sixth the value 

of the schoolhouses in Minnesota ; the true valuation of all real and 



20 EDUCATIONAL SITUATION 

personal property 'in Alabama is more than one- fourth the value of all 
property in Minnesota. The value of schoolhouses in Alabama is a 
little less than one-third the value of schoolhouses in Nebraska ; the true 
value of all real and personal property in Alabama is a little less than 
one-half the value in Nebraska. What a blessing it would be to the chil- 
dren of Alabama, and to future generations, if those who make and 
ndminister the laws would do as well for them as has been done for the 
children of Nebraska. And with its wonderful resources, the growth and 
development of that state would be marvelous. 

Tn closing this review of the public school system in Alabama, it 
would be unjust not to acknowledge the efficient work that has been done 
in a few schools of the larger towns and cities. And no one with any 
knowledge of educational matters in the South can be ignorant of the 
great work that has been done in Birmingham. The present opportunities 
in Birmingham may not be equal to the demands of its rapid growth, but 
the public school system of that city has been an incentive to the struggling 
schools of Alabama, and there are few men of our own times to whom 
the people are more indebted than Dr. Phillips. He has been the pioneer 
?nd the pathfinder of the common school system of Alabama. 

W. H. SKAGGS. 

Chicago, August i6, 1910. 

SKAGGS WRITES ON STATE EDUCATION 



i 



Relative Progress of White and Colored Races 



HOPES TO SEE ACTION 



Believes People of Alabama Should Find Cause of the 
Present Condition and Prescribe the Remedy 



William H. Skaggs. formerly a prominent citizen of Alabama and 
now of Chicago, has written another article on the educational situation 
in Alabama which contains an interesting comparison of the relative prog- 
ress being made by the white and colored races. He writes : 
'io the Editor of The Age-Herald : 

The latest report of the Superintendent of Education contains a table 
showing the amounts paid during the year and balance left on hand Sep- 
tember 30, n)0(). .According to that exhibit there was paid to whites 
$2,143,662.15 and paid to colored $287,045.43. The negroes represent 46.TO 
lier cent of the total school population and received 13^/. per cent of the 
scliool fund. The enrollment of the whites is 69.34 per cent of the white 
school population and the negroes is 39.31 of the negro enumeration. The 



IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 31 

average daily attendance of the whites is 62.91 of the enrollment, while 
the negroes show an average attendance of 67.35 per cent of their enroll- 
ment. 

If the whites show greater interest in the education of their children, 
as evidenced by the higher percentage of enrollment, why is it that greater 
interest is not also manifest in regular attendance? And if the low per 
cent of the school population that is enrolled by the negroes is evidence 
of apathy on the part of that race, why do we find such comparatively 
greater interest in regular attendance? In answer to inquiries I have 
made, I have been told that inadequate accommodations and a lack of 
sufficient teachers prevent a higher enrollment of the negroes. This may 
be a satisfactory explanation, from one point of view, if so, it is greatly 
to the credit of the negroes. But it appears that the greater interest in 
regularity of attendance by the negroes, at least in a large measure, is 
due to the more strenuous effort on the part of the leaders of that race 
to educate the children. ' And here we have evidence of one great blessing 
that has come to the negroes as the result of disfranchisement. Those 
who bestowed the blessing, perhaps, did it unwittingly and unintentionally, 
but it is none the less a real blessing for the Negroes. The Negro has been 
told that he can never vote if he is illiterate. He has been taught that 
education will give him the ballot, and he believes it. This teaching has 
been a potent incentive to the race. 

In the absence of ample opportunities for both elementary and sec- 
ondary education, disfranchisem.ent has pulled the white race down; in 
proportion to his opportunities, it has lifted the Negro up. It does not 
take the prescience of a statesman to see the danger point that is being 
plainly marked, along this line of cleavage, between the industrial classes 
of the two races, but it will take the heart of a patriot to correct the evil 
and avoid the danger. If those who built the constitution did not fore- 
see this defect in the timbers of their structure, they did not build wisely 
in their day; if they foresaw these defects, and made no provision against 
the storms that must try the strength of the material, their children will 
curse them when the structure tumbles down. 

No review of the educational question in the South would be complete, 
nor in any respect satisfactory as an index to the true situation, without 
some comparative statement regarding the progress of both races. The 
Alabama educational reports contain little information on this vital point. 
No percentage tables have been made up, no comparative statistics or 
comments that give any definite idea of the true status of any phase of the 
question. The report is incomplete and superficial, not so voluminous or 
accurate as it was two or four years ago and, by comparison with reports 
from 41 states, it is the most cursory. In an investigation of the educa- 
tional' situation in Alabama, it is necessary to rely altogether on the report 
of the United States Bureau of Education. 

The reports from Florida, Georgia and North Carolina are compre- 
hensive and complete. The North Carolina report is an interesting and 
instructive book for any one interested in social or economic questions. 
In Florida, the percentage of school population enrolled is 72.22 for the 



23 EDUCATIONAL SITUATION 

whites and 57.31 for the negroes, the percentage of enrollment in daily 
attendance is 68.14 for the whites and 74.42 for the nergoes; in Georgia, 
the percentage of school population is 70.46 for the whites, and 49.64 for 
the negroes, and the percentage of enrollment in daily attendance is 66 
for the whites and 59.30 for the negroes ; in North Carolina the per- 
centage of school population enrolled is 7540 for the whites and 61.82 
for the negroes and the percentage of enrollment in daily attendance is 
63.59 for the whites and 58.30 for the negroes. In at least five of the 
Southern States, the negroes show a higher average attendance than the 
whites. In this connection, it may be interesting to consider the follow- 
ing, taken from the late biennial report of the Superintendent of Public 
Instruction of North Carolina : 

"There is another pliase of this ])roblem of negro education worthy 
of the serious consideration of our people. It is manifest to me that if 
the negroes become convinced that ihey are to be deprived of their schools 
and of the opportunities of an education, most of the wisest and most self- 
respecting negroes will leave the state, and eventually there will be left here 
only the indolent, worthless and criminal part of the negro population. 
Already there has been considerable emigration of negroes from the state. 
There is no surer way to drive the best of them from the state than by 
keeping up this continual agitation about withdrawing from them the 
meagre educational opportunities that they now have. Their emigration 
in large numbers would result in a complication of the labor problem. 
Some of our Southern farms would be compelled to lie untenanted and 
untilled. The experience of one district in Wilson county illustrates this. 
,' The County Board of Education found it, for various reasons, impossible 
to purchase a site for a negro schoolhouse. Before the year was out the 
Board received several offers to donate a site. Upon inquiry by the 
chairman of the board as to the reasons of these generous offers, he was 
told that, when it was learned that' no site for the schoolhouse could be 
secured, and that the negroes were to have no school in that district 
at least one-third of the best negro tenants and laborers there moved into 
other districts where they could have the advantage of a school" 

This is prett}' plain language from a Southern man who is regarded 
as one of the leading educators of this country. And it could just as 
well have been written about the situation in Alabama. 

The Bureau of Education fm-nishes this statement about negro educa- 
tion in Alabama, outside the public schools: "Students in secondary and 
higher schools for the colored races (not including public high schools), 
4,484; pupils receiving industrial training, 3,167; schools, ii." The present 
status of higher education for the whites in Alabama is well illustrated in 
the following table : 

Students at state universities — 

1900 1908 

Alabama 396 Sgi 

Minnesota 3656 4667- 

Nebraska 2287 3266 



IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 23 

Students at colleges and technological schools — 

1900 1908 

Alabama (including Alabama Polytechnic Institute).... 1148 1355 

Minnesota 2236 2380 

Nebraska 2348 3148 

With practically the same population, Minnesota has nearly eight 
times as many students in its imiversity as are registered at the Alabama 
university ; but in this comparison of university students, we should 
eliminate the negro population in Alabama. On this basis, estimating 
the proportionate registration at the University of Minnesota as 2750, 
it gives that university nearly five times as many students as the Uni- 
versity of Alabama. As shown in a former article, the total population 
of Nebraska is less than the total white population of Alabama, yet 
Alabama has hardly one-fifth the number of students as are at the Uni- 
versity of Nebraska. The University of Alabama was chartered 20 years 
before there was a schnolhouse in Minnesota and its collegiate work 
began 30 years before Minnesota or Nebraska had a university or college. 
The vandalism of the war is a pathetic and familiar story in the life of 
the Alabama university, but the erection of new buildings was begun and 
collegiate work resumed the same year that Minnesota and Nebraska 
began collegiate work. Moreover, Congress made a second grant of lands 
which more than compensated for the losses of the war. 

As shown by the foregoing statistics, the Bureau of Education reports 
an aggregate of 1946 students in all the universifies, colleges and techno- 
logical schools of Alabama. This estimate includes the University, 
Alabama Polytechnic and four colleges. The Statesman's Year-book is 
a standard statistical reference book in this country and Great Britain 
and it gives practically the same educational reports. Nor can any 
better report be found in the New International Encyclopaedia or any 
other late publications which are supposed to give accurate statistics. 
If Alabama can make a better showing it ought to be published to the 
world, for business reasons, if nothing higher. However, in order to 
make the most liberal showing, we should include the Alabama Girls' 
Industrial School and the district agricultural schools. With these scchools 
added, the summary would be as follows : 

University, Alabama Polytechnic Institute and four colleges, 1946; 
Alabama Girls' Industrial Schools, 448; district agricultural schools, 1214; 
total number of white students in all colleges and technological schools, 
3608. 

This estimate does not include the Marion institute, which, I under- 
stand, has not more than 300 students at the outside, although it is a 
highly reputable educational institution and its president is one of the 
foremost educators of the stgte. And there are not more than eight 
colleges for women with a maximum estimate of 1200 students. As has 
been shown, the total enrollment in private schools is 11,164, cf which 
5,217 are negroes. The reports seem to show that the negroes, with a 
population at least 7 per cent less than the whites, have more 



24 EDUCATIONAL SITUATION 

students in institutions for higher education than the whites have in the 
same class of schools. Unquestionably, the negroes have more pupils 
receiving industrial training. I anticipate the only answer that can be 
made to this statement, i. e.. that the Tuskegee institute for negroes is 
an important and extraordinary factor in comparative estimates for Ala- 
bama. So it is, but the reputation of the Tuskegee institute is due to the 
fame of Dr. Booker Washington and not to its extraordinary financial 
or numerical strength. Other Southern States have institutions for the 
higher and industrial education of the negroes and the attendance at 
these schools is proportionately as large. 

This state of affairs is alarming and it must be humiliating. If it 
continue for the next decade the statistics that will be published to the 
world will show that a people without a national history, who were in 
abject slavery half a century ago, have advanced in education beyond the 
children of their former masters. What the end of this will be no man 
can tell, onlv God knows, but it is a situation that should make every 
citizen of the state tremble for his home and his children. More than 
railroads, mills and factories, Alabama needs a strong and fearless man 
who forgetting self, party ties, racial and partisan prejudices, will go 
among those good people and tell them the truth and plead with them 
to mortgage their homes and their beds, if need be, to save their race. 
A people who have always been ready to die for their country ought to 
be willing to live for their race. 

I have searched the standard books I usually consult for information 
on social and educational questions and I have gone to the great reference 
libraries of this city and can find no reports that make a better showing 
than I have stated. If I am in error, I hope this paper will be read by 
some Alabamian who is better informed and that he will point out the 
fallacy of my conclusions. The actual facts ought to be published, favor- 
able as possible, in justice to the state from a moral and practical point 
of view. Educated Germans, Swedes and other people with brains in 
their heads and money in their pockets, who are seeking new locations, 
usually inquire, first, about the climate, and second, about the schools 
of the country in which they are invited to invest and live. It is easy 
to learn that there is no better climate in America, that no other state 
has such wonderful resources and that no people are more hospitable and 
generous than the people of Alabama. But the stumbling block to greater 
progress is the educational question. There seems to be a blight on the 
whole svstem of education, from the lowest to the highest. No better 
evidence of growth in the university and colleges than in the elementary 
schools And this unfortunate situation is no criticism on the faculty. 
The University of Alabama and the Alabama Polytechnic Institute have 
the faithful service of experienced educators of the highest integrity and 
acknowledged ability in their profession. The people of Alabama know 
this to be true and others, who arc not citizens, know the high standing 
c,f these distinguished scientists and educators, and the colleges and other 
institutions for higher education have the loyal service of able educators. 
But the situation, as evidenced by the official records, is as I have stated. 



IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 25 

I am only trying to show the manifestations of a diseased condition. It 
is wiser to know the facts and diagnose the infection before it threatens 
the whole system. The people of Alabama should find the cause and 
prescribe the remedies. One does not need the wisdom of a statesman 
nor the learning of an educator to see the danger that threatens tht 
state. 

Th^ student of history knows that all great and successful social and 
political revolutions, undertaken for the improvement of mankind, move 
downward. The rights and liberties of the people under the English con- 
stitution were secured through the agency of the educated classes ; The 
Netherlands, from whom we borrowed so much in the making of our 
government, threw off the Spanish yoke and established a republic through 
the wisdom and heroism of the educated leaders; the great religious 
reformation came through the work of the educated, and all that was 
good and permanent in the French Revolution was the creation of 
educated leaders, and our institutions were built by men of learning and 
wisdom. If there be no vigor and growth in the institutions for higher 
education, there can be no virility or progress in the education of the 
masses. He who lifts his hand against the higher institutions of educa- 
tion may strike unwittingly but the blow is none the less dangerous to 
society and state. W. H. SKAGGS. 

Chicago, August 20, 1910. 



BOWIE ON NEED OF COMMON SCHOOLS 



Offers Suggestion Toward Solution of Problem 



MAKE TERMS LONGER 



Remove County Superintendents From Politics so as to Get 
Efficiency and Allow Local Taxation for School Purposes 



Sj'dney J. Bowie, former congressman and one of the most prominent 
attorneys of the state, has contributed an interesting article to the dis- 
cussion of Alabama educational facilities. Mr. Bowie maintains that 
county school terms should be longer, that the office of county superin- 
tendents should be removed from politics and that local taxation should 
be allowed. He writes : 

To the Editor of the Age-Herald : 

I have read with great interest the articles by the Hon. W. H. Skaggs, 
former mayor of Talladega, in your issue of July 19, and also his last 
article in your issue of August 19. ]\Ir. Skaggs deserves the thanks of 
the people for his clear and courageous presentation of a great and 



26 EDUCATIONAL SITUATION 

pressing problem in this state. It is not necessary for ns to agree with 
all the statements in detail made by Mr. Skaggs in order to award to 
him our unstinted praise for his very able and effective presentation of 
our educational needs and delinquencies. 

The fact is. I think Mr. Skaggs has on some matters not related to 
education, particularly in his letter of July 19, inaccurately and incor- 
rectly made certain statements in regard to the general condition of our 
people which I believe upon further reflection he would not be willing 
to repeat. They are not vital, however, and do not impair the general 
value of his statements. 

If I regarded it as necessary I could show from the census reports, 
and from other unquestionable sources of statistical information that the 
population of the Southern States from the decade of l8go to igoo in- 
creased in a more rapid ratio than the remaining sections of the United 
States, and all the preliminary returns so far received indicate that this 
tendency will be accentuated when the current census is announced. 

I could also show by the reports of the comptroller of the currency 
that the ratio of increase in individual deposits in all banks was greater 
in the Southern States than in any other section of the United States 
from New England to the Pacific coast during the decade of i8g8 to 1008. 
This does not mean that our average individual' deposits are equal to the 
average individual deposits of other sections, nor is it reasonable to sup- 
pose that we could expect that situation to arise so long as nearly one- 
half of our population are negroes, who, as a rule, keep no bank deposits 
at all. At the same time, there has undoubtedly been a marked and 
gratifying increase in population and in banking facilities in the Southern 
States, and Alabama as well, during the last to years. 

The federal census of manufactures for 1905 also shows that in 
capital as well as in product the Southern States had increased more 
rapidly in the preceding five years than the other sections of the country. 
This was not true of the iron industry considered alone, although the 
increase in that industry was marked and gratifying, but it was true 
of all manufactures as a whole. This increase in banks, in population and 
in manufactures when considered in connection with the handicaps under 
which we have labored is most gratifying and important, and it thor- 
oughly dissipates the oft repeated argument that we are too poor to 
properly educate our own children. 

Mr. Skaggs says : 

"Here is a 'sum' for an Alabama school boy: If Alabama provides 
for 113 days' schooling and spends $1,000 a day for schoolhouses, while 
]\Iinnesota provides for 145 days' schooling with valuable text books and 
spends $4,500 for schoolhouses, how long will it take the Alabama boy 
to catch up with the Minnesota boy?" 

And here he has stated the most important question now before our 
people. The figures presented by Mr. Skaggs show that in total enroll- 
uRMit Alabama cfimpares favorably with other states in this country, par- 
ticularly when allowance is made for the fact that the enrollment, as well 
as attendance, in this state is voluntary, while in a great majority of 



IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 27 

the states it is compulsory; and this fact shows that it is wholly untrue 
that our people do not want an education and would not take it if 
offered to them. If our voluntary enrollment is approximately equal, as 
it is, to the compulsory enrollment of other states, the argument of 
unwillingness on the part of our people to receive an education is com- 
pletely overthrown. The real difficulty is in the short terms and inade- 
quate facilities. While our educational fund has increased in lo years 
nearly 300 per cent the average school term for white children in the 
rural districts of the state during the same period has not increased 50 
per cent. This demonstrates two propositions : First, we have too many 
schools, and secondly, there are a great many country teachers who 
receive monthly salaries out of proportion to the salaries paid to city 
teachers, and often out of proportion to the value of their services. This 
has been brought about by the repeal by the legislature of the statute 
which required that the term should be at least five months. Of course, . 
if the teachers can get as much for four or five months as they would 
for six or seven months, many of them would prefer to get the same 
amount of money for a less amount of work. 

The funds provided in this state are ample for a minimum school 
term of six months in every county in the state if the schools were 
properly consolidated, and in some counties seven or eight months, and 
no greater mistake was ever made by the legislature than when it re- 
pealed the five months statute, the wisdom of which had been clearly 
demonstrated, and which had been adopted at a time when the fund was 
less than one-half of what it is at present. 

/ One of the first things the legislature should do when it reconvenes 
is to adopt a statute fixing the term as a minimum at at least six months, 
and authority should be given to the county board to increase this term 
if in their judgment the funds available will warrant it. The country 
school teachers should receive relatively as much as the teachers in town, 
but when board and all living expenses can be obtained in the country 
at one-third to one-half the amount that has to be paid by the teacher 
in the town or city, it is ridiculous to provide, as is now frequently, if 
not generally, the case, that the average country teacher shall get more 
per month than the average city teacher for the same work. 

Another practical difficulty is that in a great many counties of the 
state the schools are entirely too numerous to be efficient. The consoli- 
dation of country schools, the grading of them, and the lengthening of 
the term from four or five months in the year to eight or nine months 
is absolutely necessary if we are to put the country school children of 
Alabama on a parity with the country school children of Nebraska, Min- 
nesota and other advanced states. 

A highly important change that we should have in our public school 
system is to take the county superintendent of education out of politics. 
The city school principals and superintendents are selected from the 
best obtainable material, no matter from where they may come. If we 
should lose our valuable superintendent in this city, Dr. Phillips, the 
board would never think of having a primary election in order to choose 



28 



EDUCATIONAL SITUATION 



a politician to fill his place. They would go, if necessary, to Mississippi 
or Minnesota, or any other place, and get the best available man they 
could for the work, and they would never let him get into politics if they 
pursued the wise plan they have heretofore adopted, and which is gen- 
erally pursued in other cities. If this is a good rule in the city why not 
in the country? Why should not the county superintendent of education 
be in all cases a competent teacher, whose term of service is dependent, 
not upon his skill as a politician, but upon the value of his service as 
determined by the county board of education? This is a very important 
and pressing matter in this state. 

But of decidedly more importance still is the necessity of getting 
more funds in order that proper facilities may be provided, and the school 
terms lengthened to a parity with other advanced states. The argu- 
ment is made that our country people cannot afford to send their children 
to school more than five months. It was formerly argued that they couW 
not spare them from the crops for over three months ; but the western 
states have dissipated and disproved this theory. Their schools run 
nine months in the year. We hear the cry repeatedly about adapting 
our education in such a way that the child will be sent back to the farm. 
The practical way to accomplish this result is to give him at least a 
grammar school education within three miles of the farm. It is not a 
question as tO' whether the southern farmer can afford to let his children 
go to school eight or nine months in the year. The fact is that he cannot 
afford not to do it, unless he wants to condemn his children to servitude 
as tenants on the farm, or as holding menial and unimportant positions 
in the city. If the farm boy goes to town too late to go to school with 
his educational advantages limited to four or five months' school during 
a few years, then that boy has got to start in as a day laborer, and it is 
getting more and more difficult for him to rise. If you want the country 
boy to compete with the town boy, he must have equal advantages with 
the town boy, and this cannot be obtained in the schools to which more 
than one-half of them have access. 

I do not doubt that the last lo years have shown substantial progress. 
I am sure they have, but our situation is hopeless when compared with 
the advantages which the other states of this country have provided for 
their children, and it will remain hopeless, unless our people have the 
wisdom and statesmanship to increase our school fund to a point where 
the advantages will be more nearly equalized. 

The most vital and far-reaching defect in our educational system is 
the almost total lack of support by local taxation. The incorporated 
cities and towns of this state, which hold less than 25 per cent of our 
population, with only four or five exceptions, are limited to a tax rate 
of five mills. This sum of money is generally insufficient for the ordi- 
nary purposes of municipal government, and leaves but a small amount 
in many cases, and almost none whatever in others, that can be devoted 
to education. The county can only levy one mill, and only that by a 
popular majority of three-fifths. The bulk of our school funds are thus 
derived from the state, which is a method of taxing the larger counties 



IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 20 

for the benefit of the smaller ones, a plan which would have something 
to recommend it if the smaller counties were permitted by law to reason- 
ably supplement the fund. I do not question the fact that it may be a 
wise public policy for the counties of Jefferson, Mobile and Montgomery, 
and a few others, out of their own taxes to supplement the funds used 
in the counties of Clay, Cleburne, Winston and Randolph, for instance. 
But I do insist that this thing can be carried to a point of injustice to the 
larger counties, and of positive harm to the smaller ones. In no other 
state in this Union are local school districts absolutely forbidden the 
right of taxation for their own school purposes, and in no other state 
in this Union is the county contribution limited to such a ridiculous sum 
as one mill on the dollar. 

I was extremely gratified to note the statement of Governor Comer 
in The Age-Herald of the 20th, that he favored local taxation for public 
schools. An amendment to our constitution granting this right to the 
districts and enlarging the rights of the counties is the pressing need of 
the hour. I am not one of those who have censured Governor Comer 
and the last legislature for what they both did for higher education in 
this state. I believe that money has been well spent and was greatly 
needed. You can no more educate the masses of the people without 
having universities and colleges, as well as high schools, than you can 
manage an army without trained officers. An army without officers would 
be a mob without efficiency. A school system without universities and 
colleges and high schools would be hopeless from the start. It is like 
a man trying to lift himself with his own boot straps. The money con- 
tributed to the support of the University and to Auburn and Montevallo 
is not money contributed for the rich. It is money contributed for the 
poor boys of Alabama in order to give them the like opportunity with 
those who are better off. The rich man's son can go to Harvard, Yale 
or Princeton ; the farmer's son with a little help may go to Auburn or 
Tuscaloosa. Let us not overlook the cardinal fact that a great majority 
of the boys at the University and Auburn, and of the girls at Montevallo 
are those who are barely able to pay the small sums required to pirt 
them through, and let us not forget ihe fact that many of them can go 
to Auburn, Tuscaloosa or Montevallo who could not go to Harvard, 
Yale or Princeton. 

I therefore cordially commend in public, as I have frequently done in 
private, the attitude of Governor Comer and the last legislature toward 
the higher institutions of learning, and I deprecate as unwise the attempt 
on the part of some to link the cause of the common schools with the 
cause of hostility to the higher institutions of learning. 

As Governor Comer well said, we have got to find new sources of 
income for the benefit of our common schools, and that must be from a 
higher proportionate contribution from the various localities of the state. 
By this means we will not only be able to increase the funds, but what 
is probably of even greater consequence, we will arouse that measure 
of local interest and supervision which, in the nature of things, can never 



'" EDUCATIONAL SITUATION 

W h'lo'T: "r"'"'^' ^^°P°^^'°" ^° ^'- '^--fi*^ obtained. 

With local axation and fewer schools and therefore with increased 
revenues, w.th .ncreased length of school tern.s. with m^r cZetent 
professional superintendents, entirely removed from no 1 ill '°" P'^'"* 
with improved facilities, all of which are Xnd^ in or^ elt^e 
will only ms.st upon it. we shall be able to prove and "4 Si 'Jo 

other Southern States, are just as anxious to have the advantages o an 
education and respond just as quickly and readily to it Jfl. , ^ 

any other section in this country. ^ '' '^'' P'°P'' °^ 

P,v • u A SYDNEY J. BOWIE 

Birmingham, August 21, 1910. ^vjvviii. 



(Editorial: Birmingham Age-Herald, Aug. 22, 1910.) 
BOWIE ON ALABAMA SCHOOL SYSTEM 

It n/a"y betai7ind?:ri°"K°' u' ''^^'"^ '"^^^^^"^^ '^ ^^at of education, 
i may be said, indeed, to be the paramount question. It has been vigor- 
ously discussed in the press, on the hustings and in the halls of egislfion 
and will continue to be discussed nntJI Auu ■ . iegisianon 

in the list of «faf.c . ^'^"""-'^^^^ ""til Alabama improves her standing 
the lis of states rated according to their illiteracy 
In a letter to The Age-Herald, which will be found on another pac^e 

a d tUTtt'!;'"? ^- ^T' ■''''^' ''' ^^'^-' ^'^-^-" - A Ibll 
clean Hi! T ^^^austively and with characteristic force and 

cleainess. His discussion is along the broad lines of constructive states 

hools-have fewer but better schools, and give bounties the right to tx 
themselves for school purposes ^ 

to enTan^d'"'''' ''"'^ " '"^^''^' '"^ '' '"^ ^"" ^' '^"'^^^^' from beginning 

Imon^ he 1 "' "^ '^^"""^'"^^ ^'^^ ^''^''y '' educational conditio,? 

among the rural masses can afford to miss reading it. 



IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 31 

CRIME GOES ALONG WITH IGNORANCE 
ALL OVER WORLD 



Skaggs Submits Statistics on Alabama Conditions 
Laying Bare Deplorable Record 



QUOTES GARBER ON STATE'S HOMICIDES 



Calls Attention to the Agencies Which Have Helped to 
Hold Back the Poor Whites of the South 



To the Editor of The Age-Herald : 

Lawlessness is the twin sister of 'ignorance and poverty. From a 
high authority on criminology I take the following: "Prison statistics 
show that the higher the character of a man's daily pursuits the greater 
the unlikelihood of his falHng into crime. An examination of the pre- 
vious occupations of criminals shows that a very large percentage was 
engaged in unskilled labor. The economically low position of the un- 
skilled laborer exposes him to frequent unemployment and want, and 
hence to the desperation which often leads to crime." The present situ- 
ation in Alabama forcibly illustrates the truth of these observations. 
Alabama is one of the four most lawless states in this country and, ap- 
proximately, the most feloniously lawless in the civilized world. The 
latest statistics of crimes in the United States show the following record 

of convictions for homicides : 

Per 100,000 of 

Total. Population. 

Alabama 628 32.1 

Florida 304 52.0 

Georgia 793 35.4 

Illinois 463 8.9 

Mississippi 444 26.8 

North Carolina 263 13. i 

South Carolina 340 24.0 

The city of Chicago is a bad, wicked city, a maelstrom that gathers 
a mass of poverty, ignorance, corruption and vice from all parts of the 
world. Corrupt practices in public and private life are of daily occur- 
rence, yet the felonious homicides in Chicago are fewer than in Alabama, 
although the population of Chicago is larger than Alabama. The popu- 
lation of Illinois is nearlj^ three times the population of Alabama and. 
in addition to the lawless element in Chicago, there is a turbulent and 
criminal population in the southern part of the state, yet Alabama has 



33 



EDUCATIONAL SITUATION 



more felonious homicides than Illinois. Georgia has a criminal record 
a little ahead of Alabama and Florida is very much ahead, but when we 
consider the extensive coast line of Florida and the large number of 
floaters that rendezvous in that state it is hardly fair to compare its 
criminal record with Alabama. Texas has a better record than Alabama, 
notwithstanding it is a border state and has a large frontier territory. 
New York is lower than Alabama and the percentage in Minnesota is 
one-sixth of Alabama. The latest and most appalling statement regarding 
criminology in Alabama is the report of the Attorney General of that 
state, from which I take the following: 

"The number of criminal cases disposed of in the state for two years 
ending September 30, 1908, 20,672." This was over 7,000 more than for 
two years immediately preceding the period named ; and further, the 
Attorney General says : "During the two years covered by this report 
there were 657 cases of homicide disposed of in the state ; of this num- 
ber there were 186 convictions for murder in the first degree; 189 for 
murder in the second degree; 114 for manslaughter in the first degree, 
and 45 for manslaughter in the second degree. It is to be deplored that 
officially compiled statistics show that one person in every 7,000 in Ala- 
bama dies yearly as the result of gunshot wounds as against an average 
for the United States of one person to 17,000. * * * j ^j^ unable to 
offer a rational or satisfactory explanation of this surprising increase in 
the number of criminal cases before the trial courts of the state. A 
growing spirit of law defiance and a corresponding indifference of law 
enforcement may be assigned as the reason. I am reluctant to even 
suggest, much less advance, such a degrading cause in the face of the 
evident moral, social and educational development of our citizenship, 
surrounded as it is on all sides by schools, churches and uplifting in- 
fluences." 

The state of Alabama has never had in any public position a more 
conscientious and honorable official, nor one of more delicate and sen- 
sitive state pride than the present Attorney General, but in speaking of 
the schoolhouses and churches he must have been generalizing or talking 
of things he would like to have. He is in error about the people being 
"surrounded by schoolhouses and churches." If the schoolhouses and 
churches were there, habitable and occupied, I doubt if the Attorney 
General would have found it necessary, in the discharge of his official 
obligations, to state such gruesome facts, which must have given him 
pain to tell about 'his state. 

Penologists tell us that it is almost a prison maxim that "the worst 
prison sends out the worst prisoner." The Age-Herald has heretofore 
referred to the report of the state prison inspector, and I need not quote 
from that horrible report in this article. It would be hard to find any- 
thing more appalling than the story of Alabama prisons. It is enough 
to make the most mercenary and hardened stand aghast. The highest 
criminal record is found, as stated, in the states with the maximum per- 
centage of illiteracy, and in the same states we find an absence of 
statutes making education compulsory, and no laws, or very lax laws, 



IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 33 

regulating child labor. There are 41 states which have statutes making 
education compulsory. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and South 
Carolina have no laws which provide for compulsory education, and the 
laws in these states regulating child labor are far below the standard. 

In Europe, where we find the highest percentage of illiteracy, there 
we also find the highest percentage of felonious homicides. Beginning 
with the highest in relative criminality, we find that Roumania, Servia, 
Portugal, Spain, Russia, Italy, Greece and Austria are the worst. Ven- 
ezuela, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Mexico are the highest in 
North America, and Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina 
are the highest in the United States. In Roumania the percentage of 
illiteracy is 89, Servia 86, Portugal 79, Spain 68, Russia 62, Italy 38, 
Austria 24 and Hungary 28. The per capita expenditure for educational 
purposes in these countries is as follows : Russia 22 cents, Spain 25 
cents, Italy 39 cents, Greece 48 cents, Mexico 31 cents. Germany is 
spending $2.94 per capita, Switzerland $3.04, The Netherlands $2.07 and 
Great Britain $2.90; Sweden $2.18. Cuba is spending more than Alabama. 

Germany has the lowest percentage of illiteracy; in fact, there are 
no illiterates above the school age. Education is maintained at a high 
level in Norway and Sweden and "practically all the inhabitants of school 
age and over can read and write." Whether we consider the question 
from a sociological or economic point of view, no country furnishes a 
more impressive illustration of the wholesome benefits of education than 
the German empire. It has the lowest criminal record of any country in 
the world. A little more than 100 years ago, in the time of Frederick 
the Great, and for two or three decades after his death, several states 
and petty principalities, which are n9w a part of the German empire, 
were populated by ignorant, stupid and thriftless serfs. Not only in 
Silesia, but in other provinces of Prussia, the serfs were driven into the 
field like cattle and made to till the land at the point of the bayonet. 
Today Germany is not only one of the great powers of the world, but 
it is the greatest in many ways. In growth of industries and expansion 
of commerce it leads the world. In advancement of science and me- 
chanics it is second to no country, and in the solution of modern economic 
problems, municipal government, sanitation and hygiene it is teaching 
the world. 

Its people have come to this country and they have gone to the 
South American countries, Africa and the Orient, and wherever they have 
gone they have been constructive ; they have built well and they have 
accumulated rapidly ; they have cultivated ideals and they have been im- 
portant factors in governmental affairs in all parts of the world. These 
things have not come to the Germans from_ the natural wealth that God 
gave them, for He showered no special blessings upon them ; nor has it 
come from conquest, great as has been the prowess of their military 
chieftains. Brain and muscle have made Germany, but neither has re- 
mained in a crude state. The schoolhouse has been the Aladdin's lamp 
for Germany. In elementary and higher education Germany leads the 
world and her people are rapidly getting possession of the world. Any- 



34 EDUCATIONAL SITUATION 

body who has traveled in the states where the Germans, Swedes and 
other educated Europeans have settled could not fail to notice the thrift 
and steady advancement of these ijcople, to positions of influence. Any- 
body who has closely studied conditions in the South during the last 
five years could not fail to notice the rapid decline of the poor, illiterate 
whites. And many of the poor, illiterate whites in the South today are 
children of men and women of high social position two generations ago. 
One of the deplorable results of the distressing situation of which I have 
been speaking is the steady advancement of the negro women in domestic 
positions sought by poor white women, who were trying to get away from 
the drudgery and hazardous environments of the corn patch and cotton 
field. In many southern homes negro women who have had industrial 
training at school, or have learned by suggestion and example in the 
homes of white people, are supplanting the white women, who are untidy 
and have no training in cooking or sewing. It is not to be deplored 
that the negro women are advancing ; it is better for them, better for 
society and government that all men and women be educated and trained 
in some calling; but it is more than deplorable, it is pitiable, that the poor 
white women should be pushed back because they have been denied the 
opportunity of education or training. 

Not long ago. in one of the large hotels in the South, I noticed that 
white women and negro women were employed. I made inquiry of the 
housekeeper and she said : "We use the colored girls on the parlor floor 
and for the high-priced rooms. They are more tidy and have better taste ; 
the white girls are kept upstairs." I made some inquiries about the 
accommodations for eating and sleeping, but I refrain repeating what 
I heard. 

And who are the poor whites of the South? Whence came they 
and who were their fathers? I shall tell you. Their fathers were the 
gentry who settled the old Virginia colony, the Huguenots and Scotch- 
Irish of the CaroHnas, and the brave and adventurous French and Span- 
ish who followed the Bienville brothers to Alabama and Louisiana. They 
drove the red man away, felled the native forests and tilled the virgin 
soil. They were with Campbell and Shelby at King's Mountain and 
these Virginians, Carolinans and Georgians were with Morgan, Pickens 
and McCall at Cowpens, where they annihilated Tarleton and his "terrible 
men" and made possible the capture of CornwalHs at Yorktown. They 
were with Jackson at New Orleans and with him they defeated the 
Chickasaws and the Cherokees, the most advanced and courageous of 
American Indians. Their successful campaign against the Spaniards and 
Seminoles in Florida weakened the power of Spain and made possible 
the acquisition of Florida. They carried the American colors to the 
City of Mexico and of their dauntless courage in Texas it was said : 
"I'licrmopylac bad her messenger of defeat, but the Alamo had none." 
I\fany of the people owned no slaves, but when their state called them 
they answered as their fathers had answered and they fought as their 
fathers fought. 

With these people the war ended at Appomattox and they returned 



IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 35 

to their homes to live in peace and reclaim the land made desolate by 
war. They have labored and suffered these long years and they know 
that their thrift, added to the patient labor of the poor negro, has made 
possible the industrial awakening of the South. And these people know 
how and by whom they have been plundered and robbed, not only of the 
little they have been able to earn by the sweat of their brow, but also 
of the inalienable rights which their fathers bought with their blood. 
I have sat at the fireside of these people and heard the story of the 
wrongs and oppressions which they have suffered. They have been ex- 
ploited by politicians and gamblers. In the assessment of taxes not one 
dollar's worth of their property escapes taxation. If the hard earned 
taxes they contribute to the support of the state and the cause of edu- 
cation is squandered and mismanaged they are held up to ridicule and 
scorn because they are unable to build schoolhouses and buy books at 
high prices and at inaccessible places, or because their half-fed, half-clad 
children mpst work in the field to keep body and soul together. If some 
local politician, who can hardly write his name and who never visits a 
schoolhouse, holds the position of county superintendent of education, 
don't censure these people if they fail to enthuse under such leadership. 
If some plutocrat wishes to exploit his philanthropy don't censure these 
people if they refuse to receive him with open arms when they find his 
representatives consorting with those who have robbed them of their 
property and their liberties. If they appear not to show proper apprecia- 
tion of the philanthropist and scientist who would save them by eradi- 
cating the hookworm, you should remember that they have been infected 
so long with the designing politician and the cotton gambler that the 
hookworm has no terrors for them. If, when you tell these people that 
corn, their only staff of life, is poisoned with pellagra and their virility 
is being destroyed by the hookworm, don't grow impatient and weary 
in your perfunctory philanthropy if they look at you in a listless way 
and ask if the "grub" of the Confederate soldier at Chickamauga was 
poisoned with pellagra, or if his system was infected with the hookworm 
when he was with Jackson in the valley and with Lee at Gettysburg. 

W. H. SKAGGS. 
Chicago, August 22, 1910. 



36' 



EDUCATIONAL SITUATION 



SKAGGS SUGGESTS ALABAMA'S REMEDY 



Make Educational Provisions On Enormous Scale 



WHY THE STATE IS POOR 



Has Greater Natural Resources and More Natural Advantages 
Than Any Other Section of the Whole World 



To the Editor of The Age-Herald : 

In your issue of the 22d ult., I find a very able and interesting article 
by the Hon. Sydney J. Bowie on educational matters in Alabama. Mr. 
Bowie is not a new advocate in this cause, as the people of Alabama well 
know, and I recall his earnest and effective work in this behalf when 
he was a very young man. He began early and I hope for the good of 
his native state he will continue late. In the zeal of his patriotic im- 
pulses, and knov/ledge of the needs of the people, Mr. Bowie wanted 
no higher incentive ; yet had it been necessary to direct him by the monu- 
ments of those who had served their country best, Mr. Bowie had before 
him the inspiration of his illustrious kinsman. Dr. J. L. M. Curry, whose 
patriotic work as educator, publicist, diplomat and statesman makes the 
brightest page in the darkest period of Southern history. No history of 
education in this country, or history of civic progress, would be complete 
. without the story of Horace Mann and Dr. Mayo ; and the heroic and 
effective work of Dr. Curry, under the most trying conditions and in face 
of the most bitter prejudices, adorns and amplifies the record. ^^ And 
when the true story of the renaissance of education in Alabama is written 
the people will know how and by whom the university lands were con- 
served, and how and by whom the foundation was laid for the common 
school system, and full credit will be given Mr. Bowie and Dr. Phillips. 

If nothing else has been accomplished in this agitation, much has 
been gained by having a man in Mr. Bowie's position acknowledge that 
the State of Alabama is able to educate her children and that the children 
are importuning. Mr. Bowie has clearly shown the way and I am taking 
issue with him on some details respecting the industrial or business phase 
of the question, hoping that this view of the matter will appeal to the 
business man and property owner. While acknowledging the "educational 
needs and delinquencies," Mr. Bowie claims that the increase in population 
and individual deposits is evidence of a better condition than I have 
inferred. A general answer may be stated in the words of Edward O. 
Sisson : "We live in a far more complex environment than did our fore- 
fathers, for we have left the simple paths where instinct was a sufficient 
guide for conduct, and are now dwelling in a world of man's own crea- 



IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 37 

tion, where instinct is not at home, and where problems can be solved 
only by the highest intelligence. The intelligence of thoughtful men 
stands aghast at the problems knocking at our doors — ^tariff and finance, 
conservation, race conflicts, lawmaking and enforcement, administration 
of nation, state and municipalities." And more specifically we should 
examine the actual facts regarding our industrial and commercial status. 

The average increase in population for the whole country, 1890 to 
1900, as shown by the latest census, was 20 per cent; Alabama and 
Georgia had practically the same increase, on percentage basis, and the 
total for the Southern States was under 20 per cent, a little less than 
the average. In many states the increase was as high as 30 per cent 
and in some it was more. The birth rate in Alabama is high; in fact, it 
is high in all of the Southern States. The excess of births over deaths is 
much higher in the Southern States than in the eastern or New England 
states, and it is greater in the South than in any other part of the country. 
These statistics seem to indicate favorable climatic conditions and the 
absence of race suicide, one of the evils of modern civilization not mani- 
fest in the South. However, the natural advantages of the South is 
not an issue in this discussion. I said in the beginning there could be 
no question about the health and resources of the country, Alabama 
especially being rich in material resources. The fact that these natural 
advantages exist makes the present situation inexcusable; and these 
natural advantages are more than offset by ignorance and poverty. 

The foreign born population in Alabama is less than i per cent and 
Alabama is above the average of Southern States in getting immigration. 
In 1900 there were 3,241,660 natives of the Southern States living in 
other states and there were 2,762,508 natives of other states living in the 
Southern States, evidencing a net loss o'f 659,152 for the Southern States. 
This is the worst showing in the United States; more people are leaving 
the Southern States than are going into those states. Notwithstanding 
the steady flow of emigration from the eastern states to the west, Massa- 
chusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut show a gain, i. e., the number of 
people who moved into those states was greater than the number who 
moved out. "These tables were taken from an excellent paper on com- 
pulsory education by Prof. W. H. Hand, printed in the proceedings of 
the Eighth Conference for Education in the South." Commenting on 
this paper, Professor Joyner, Superintendent of Education of North Caro- 
lina, said : "The tide of emigration has evidently flowed from illiterate 
to literate, from ignorance to intelligence, from darkness to light." 

. As shown by the late report of the Comptroller of Currency the 
increase in individual deposits in the Southern States since 1900 has been 
nearly 300 per cent, substantially as stated by Mr. Bowie, but this table 
includes West Virginia, which is not a Southern State, and Texas, which 
is a Southern State, but its wonderful development takes it out of the 
class of states we have been talking about. I have been discussing edu- 
cational and industrial conditions in the south Atlantic and gulf states ; 
the Carolinas, Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama in particular. And to 



38 EDUCATIONAL SITUATION 

support my contentions regarding these states I am quite willing to rely 
on the authority cited by Mr. Bowie. 

The individual deposits in Alabama gained over 300 per cent from 
1900 to 1906, but this gain was due largely to the increase in the deposits 
of the state banks, which, for the period named, was over 500 per cent. 
The Comptroller of the Currency has no control over the state banks 
and the information he furnishes regarding the status of these banks 
must come from the official state records or, in the absence of state 
records, he must depend upon the voluntary report of each bank. In the 
absence of a law in Alabama requiring an examination of and report on 
state banks, the Comptroller could give no definite information regarding 
the deposits of these institutions. When a law was passed in Alabama 
that brought out these statements the Comptroller could include them in 
his report and, in this way, we observe the remarkable increase in the 
deposits of the state banks. The total individual deposits in all Alabama 
banks on June 30, 1909, were less than on June 30, 1908, or 1907, and 
hardly 5 per cent more than on June 30, 1906. The best and most 
accurate illustration of the true financial condition is shown in a summary 
of the report of the Comptroller of the Currency for 1909. This sum- 
mary gives the "population of the United States and territories on June 
I, 1909, the aggregate resources of national banks and other banks on 
April 28, 1909, and the average resources per capita." The average per 
capita resources of all banks for the Southern States, including West 
Virginia and Texas, was $71.19; New England, $433.81; eastern states, 
$450.19; middle western states, $190.64; western states, $161.35; and 
Pacific states, %i47.77. In Alabama the per capita is $45.11, the lowest 
in the United States except Mississippi, the Carolinas and Arkansas. In 
West Virginia the total resources are $112.66 per capita, and Minnesota, 
$160.95, and for the United States the average is $237.24. It is the same 
old story ; Alabama, the Carolinas, Mississippi and Arkansas are about 
on a par in illiteracy, poverty and criminology. Hawaii is 75 per cent 
ahead of these states in bank resources. The savings deposits in Ala- 
bama amount to less than $1 per inhabitant; in Minnesota it is over $10; 
West Virginia, $7.50, and the average for the United States is $42. There 
are only 13,320 savings depositors in Alabama ; less than i per cent of 
the population ; more than 65 per cent of the inhabitants of Massachusetts 
have savings deposits, with an average of $363.74 for each depositor; 
in West Virginia there are 42,189 depositors, 4 per cent of the population; 
more than one-third of the inhabitants of New Zealand have savings 
deposits, with an average deposit per inhabitant of $66.28. One-fifth of 
the population of Austria have savings deposits, with an average deposit 
per inhabitant of $40.53; one-third the population of Belgium has $23.65; 
one-half the population of Denmark, $73.93 ; one-third the population of 
France, $24.48; one-third the population of Germany, $51.79; in Norway, 
40 per cent of the population has average of $49.67, and Sweden 40 per 
cent of the population has an average of $34.81. One-third the popula- 
tion of Japan has savings deposits with an average of $2.01 ; only Egypt 
and British India have less reserve than Alabama. These comparative 



IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 39 

statistics indicate that my inferences have not been exaggerated. In my 
first article I said the people of Alabama have less reserve and are the 
poorest in the civilized world, notwithstanding they are the richest in 
natural resources. The reports of the highest authority in the United 
States show this to be true. 

The value of the wheat crop in igo8 was more than double the value 
of the crop of 1900, and all other crops raised in the north and west have 
more than doubled. The value of the cotton crop in iqo8 was only 15 
per cent more than the crop of 1900. A standard reference book con- 
tains this statement : "The United States raises over 80 per cent of the 
world's cotton, yet exports less cotton goods than the republic of Switzer- 
land, which raises no cotton and has not even a seaport." 

In an editorial note regarding a series of articles written by Mr. 
Daniel J. Sully, the magazine publishing these articles made the follow- 
ing statement : -"During the actual reign of cotton, when Sully was 
premier, $450,000,000 in gold was brought to this country and formed the 
substructure of the enormous bull market which culminated in the spring 
of 1907. Then the South and the whole nation realized for the first time 
that the success of cotton and the advance of civilization go hand in 
hand." In the first article written by Mr. Sully, the introductory para- 
graph is in these words : "American cotton planters, proprietors of the 
greatest gold producing staple in the world, are poor. They are in prac- 
tical servitude. It is a tragedy of contemporary life that they who pro- 
duce for the world the commodity without which modern civilization 
could not proceed are themselves absolutely subservient and the poorest 
paid toilers in the United States. Intelligently, the cotton growers are 
surrounded and coerced by factors which have no other purpose than to 
keep them in this benighted vassalage." Mr. Sully is a practical business 
man and he is very emphatic in stating facts and inferences that coincide 
with the views I have expressed. 

The South produces 80 per cent of the world's cotton supply ; the 
remaining 20 per cent is "of an inferior quality and cannot compete with 
the cotton grown in the United States." The world is more dependent 
on the cotton crop of the South than on any other product of this country, 
simply because the whole world uses and must have cotton, and the area 
available for its profitable cultivation is practically limited to the Southern 
States. And the civilized world is more dependent on the South today 
than it ever has been, but we know that as far back as the early sixties, 
the bread riots in France and England, incident to the scarcity of cotton 
for the mills of those countries, following the blockading of the southern 
ports, moved Louis Napoleon to treat with representatives of the Con- 
federacy, and we know that England seriously considered the advisabilit}' 
of joining France in a movement to open the Southern ports. There 
was no sentiment in France or England that supported the Confederacy. 
It was commerce, the thing that usually moves nations, England especially, 
that gave the Confederate states a ray of hope for a little while. It was 
our cotton they wanted, and there were statesmen who believed that 



40 EDUCATIONAL SITUATION 

the story of that war would have been different if Mr. Davis had been 
more aggressive and farseeing. 

The Southern people should be the most independent, prosperous and 
intelligent people of this country. They produce the largest item of 
export, and the one without which the world could not progress; and 
they have abundant fuel which, economists tell us, is the test of a nation's 
civilization. Take, for instance, the State of Alabama. Without question, 
it is the richest state in the union and has the most wonderful possi- 
bilities. No state has a more delightful climate, no state has as many 
available waterways; it is rich in timber; its soil, under proper cultiva- 
tion, is very productive and no state has a greater variety of products. 
It has been stated by those who claim to know, and who ought to know, 
that the holdings of the United States Steel corporation, acquired from 
the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad company, are greater in tonnage 
of raw material than all the other holdings of that great corporation. 
In an interview given out in New York, a few months ago. Judge Gary, 
who is quite as well known for his conservatism as for his icomprehension 
of vast undertakings, said : "We have 700,000,000 tons of ore and a much 
larger tonnage of coal. This ore and coal lie almost contiguous and can 
be assembled in the Alabama district at a lower transportation rate than 
is possible in any possible manufacturing center in the United States." 
When we consider this statement from a man of affairs, we can hardly 
grasp the magnitude of the possibilities within the reach of an intelligent, 
skilled and thrifty people. 

There has been industrial progress and wonderful development in 
certain localities, but it has been in spots and has contributed little to 
the material and civic progress of the great mass of the people. And it 
has been slow and far below what it should have been. The development 
that has come has been at the > expense of child labor, convict labor, 
iniquitous contract labor laws, and the resources have been squandered 
because the people did not know how to conserve or develop what they 
had. A large amount of capital has been invested in localities and it 
has brought liberal returns to the investors, but the great bulk of the 
bonds and stocks are owned by non-residents. The savings banks, the 
tumble-down farm houses and the abandoned farms and cattle pens 
called schoolhouses show the wretched condition of the people and tell 
how little they have left of the undeveloped resources inherited from 
their fathers. Immigration, so essential to the healthy and permanent 
development of this country, has been neglected and, in many places, 
antagonized. Public education, the cornerstone of American institutions, 
liberty, happiness and prosperity is in a more chaotic condition than in 
any of our insular possessions. 

The remedy is easy and within reach. If the Legislature of Alabama 
would provide means for increasing the school fund 200 per cent and 
make proper provision for efficient adnn'nistration, the cliange would come 
quickly. In five years France made greater educational progress than 
Alabama has made in 40 years. Give the people of Alabama a university 
such as the people of Wisconsin and many other states have, where all 



IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 41 

ages and classes go ; send the schoolhouse and the books to their doors, 
with all the opportunities, conveniences and comforts that the children 
of Massachusetts and other states north and west have, and you will 
see the spirit, pride and patriotism that these people inherited from their 
fathers. Provision for an expenditure of $5,000,000 per annum for edu- 
cational purposes will start, within 30 days after it is announced, a flow 
of immigration and capital to that state beyond the dreams of the most 

visionary boomer. 

W. H. SKAGGS. 
Chicago, September 3, 1910. 



SKAGGS SAYS SOUTH MUST CHANGE WAYS 



Native Alabamian Finds Fault With Conditions 



QUOTES G. G. CRAWFORD 



South Will Not Benefit From Panama Canal's Completion 
Unless Steps are Taken to Improve Opportunities 



To the Editor of The Age-Herald: 

A very able and interesting article, by Mr. George G. Crawford, 
president Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad company, was published in 
the Atlanta Constitution of the 27th inst. From Mr. Crawford's article 
I take the following: 

"Pig iron production in the southern district has remained almost 

stationary since 1902, while the pig iron production of the United States 

has increased 8,000,000 tons, or about 45 per cent, during the same period, 

as shown in the following table: 

Southern United 

District. States. 

Tons. Tons. 

1902 2,548,340 17.821,307 

1903 2,713,496 18,009,252 

1904 2,178,927 16,497,033 

1905 2,589,398 22,992,380 

1906 2,775,973 25,307,191 

1907 2,742,322 25,781,361 

1908 2,077,739 15,936,018 

1909 2,601,039 25,795,471" 

Mr. Crawford further says there has been a "substantial growth in 
the South in population, wealth and agriculture and manufactures." It 
is true there has been a substantial increase in population but the increase 
in population is only the natural increase, evidencing a decided absence 



42 EDUCATIONAL SITUATION 

of race suicide ; yet, as I have before stated in The Age-Herald, there has 
been no increase from immigration. If we make comparative tables in 
other lines of manufacturing, as Mr. Crawford has made in the produc- 
tion of pig iron, we shall find that the comparative growth has been very 
slow, far below the average. In the production of cotton, the chief staple 
and big money crop of the South, we have made no progress ; the plain 
truth is we are retrograding. Our acreage in cotton, during the lo years 
last past, has increased at least 25 per cent, while our production has not 
increased over 10 per cent. This deplorable situation simply shows the 
lack of thrifty and intelligent cultivation of the soil, and it means that 
our lands are going to waste. If we look closely into the ramifications 
of this unfortunate situation we shall be appalled at the outlook. 

Dr. Seaman A. Knapp, of the United States Agricultural Department, 
than whom there is no higher authority on agricultural industries, has 
made the following statement : 

"Each farm laborer in Vermont produces an average of ^327.^7 
annually in farm crops; adding $90, the average income from stock per 
laborer, and we have a total earning power of $414.37 for each person 
employed upon the farms of that state. Each farm worker in Iowa pro- 
duces $611.11 annually in farm crops; adding the income from stock, 
$477, and each working person shows productive power of $1,098.11. Esti- 
mated in the same way, the total annual productive power of each 
worker on the farms of South Carolina is $147.46; in North Carolina, 
$149.75; in Alabama, $150.98." 

From the foregoing statement it appears that the productive capacity 
of the Alabama farmer is about one-third the production of the Ver- 
mont farmer and hardly one-sixth as much as the Iowa farmer produces. 
And Dr. Knapp further tells us that "the value of stock of all kinds per 
farm in Iowa is $1,214;" in Alabama it is only $162. In Iowa the per cent 
of resident owners is 60.5 and in Alabama it is 38.3. The value of 
implements and machinery in Iowa is $253 per farm; in Alabama it is $39. 

Quoting further from Mr. Crawford's interesting paper I find this 
significant statement : "If transportation facilities from southern ports 
are not provided the Southern people are going to be disappointed in 
th^ beneficial effects of the Panama canal upon their district." Here, 
then, is a distressing state of affairs, an alarming situation that should 
claim the thoughtful and immediate attention of every citizen who has 
any interest in the prosperity and uplift of this section. It has been 
published to the world that we have great advantages in climatic condi- 
tions and still greater advantages in the supply and juxtaposition of raw 
material for the production of pig iron. These claims are absolutely 
correct; nobody questions these natural advantages; yet, notwithstanding 
these advantages, we are now told by a man high in authoritj^ at the 
head of the largest corporation in this country, that "pig iron production 
in the southern district has remained almost stationary since 1902, while 
pig iron production of the United States has increased about 45 per cent 
during the same period." 

We have said, and we still say, that cotton is king, yet we are con- 



IN THE SOUTHERN STATES 43 

fronted with the startling fact that there is no progress in the produc- 
tion of cotton, and significant facts point to the decHne of this king's 
dominion. Our fathers wrangled over the proposed isthmian canal, and 
from the housetops we have proclaimed what great things we could and 
would do with our cotton, coal and iron if the canal were built. The 
canal is being built, the work of construction is moving fast and under 
wise direction, and it will be finished before we know it. Those who 
have their lamps filled and trimmed at the coming of the bridegroom will 
go in to the marriage feast, but those who go away to have their lamps 
filled will find the door shut when they return. I have said before — and 
people down here laughed at me — but I say again, at the risk of being 
laughed at again, if we do not prepare ourselves for the great changes 
that will come in the commerce of the country, from the building of the 
Panama canal, it will be a curse instead of a blessing to the industries 
and commerce of the South. 

I believe it was Samuel Johnson who said : "To improve the golden 
moment of opportunity and catch the good within our grasp is the true 
r.rt of life." Are the Southern people improving, or making any effort 
to improve, the present moment of opportunity? None that I can see. 
And what is the trouble? A categoric answer may be given in a few 
words. Gross, dense, unpardonable ignorance and prejudice. We give 
more time to fostering our prejudices and wrangling over local issues 
than we give to the upbuilding of our educational institutions and the 
discussion of great national and inteniational questions that directly 
concern our health and prosperity and our civic advancement. Sumptu- 
ary laws, the fee system, a blot on our civilization, petty prosecutions and 
persecutions. Vardaminism, Tillmanism and a few others in Georgia 
and Alabama keep us preoccupied in local strife, narrow our views and 
prevent our giving earnest and thoughtful consideration of the larger 
and more important issues in which we have a vital interest, if we would 
look to our permanent economic and civic advancement. 

I am told that there is now a great scarcity of labor in the Birming- 
ham district. This is not surprising. There is a scarcity of labor on the 
farms, and the labor question will continue to be more serious, in the 
mining and manufacturing districts and on the farm, if we do not mend 
our ways and change our policy. It is a waste of time and money to 
try to bring intelligent and thrifty immigrants to this state under existing 
conditions. It has been tried time and again without success. Few 

come and those who come do not stay. 

W. H. SKAGGS. 
Birmingham, November 30, 1910. 



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